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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When the narrator of "Mothers" and Bad are in Georgia, what does Bad say about the ocean?

2. How does Benson keep the girls-with-bells-for-eyes from her apartment?

3. Where do the narrator and her husband go after their wedding, in "The Husband Stitch"?

4. How does the narrator of "The Husband Stitch" describe herself after having sex for the first time?

5. What does Benson hear the girls-with-bells-for-eyes saying?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are Abler and Henson’s relationship with Stabler and Benson?

2. What does Stabler do to complicate relations with his wife in "Especial Heinous"?

3. What was Father Jones’ relationship with the girl who fell from the rooftop?

4. What role do the interns play in Stabler and Benson’s drama?

5. How would you describe the atmosphere Machado creates in "Especial Heinous"?

6. What kind of relationship does the narrator have with the woman from the art class?

7. What is the DA’s relationship with Benson?

8. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the sexual frankness in Her Body and Other Parties?

9. What is happening in the ending of "Mothers"?

10. What is the effect of the narrator remembering scenes of sexual intimacy within the context of the virus destroying civilization?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Would you recommend Her Body and Other Parties? For what purposes would you recommend Her Body and Other Parties, and what kinds of readers would you recommend it for? What other book would you recommend that would cover the same material or tell the same story in a different way?

Essay Topic 2

What are the dangers confronting women in Machado’s stories, and what are the skills they develop—or skills that Machado herself shows us, as narrator—that overcome the dangers or at least compensate for losses?

Essay Topic 3

Is happiness possible, in Machado’s terms? Is it even desirable? If happiness is not the most important thing to feel, what would be more important, in Machado’s world? How does Machado show us ways to explore alternatives to happiness?

(see the answer keys)

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